Funeral Home Denies Body Swapping Charges

A funeral home is denying charges made by its former director that it practiced body swapping. This rather grisly accusation has been leveled against Alpha Funeral Services. The former director of the funeral home alleged that he was told to switch remains by the owner of the company.

The owner who was named in the complaint has denied the accusation. Together with lawyers, the owner has said that the accusations are frivolous.

Here is a part of an article by Yvonne Man for Fox59.com: “Eckert claims he was pressured to resign, and is asking for financial damages. The owner and operator of Alpha Funeral Service, Anthony Edwards, is named in the suit.

Edwards has close ties there as well as with Edwards Family Mortuaries, Lynhurst Neighborhood Funeral Home and Fountain Square Funeral Services, according to state records.

This is not the first time Fox 59 has investigated disturbing practices by employees who worked for Edwards. Last year, our cameras captured several men moving bodies from a rented van into the Grinsteiner Funeral Home. Instead of using gurneys, employees carried bodies with their hands, even on their shoulders.

Indiana’s Funeral Board President told Fox59 the practices are not illegal but described them as disgusting.

“So does that mean that those deceased are literally stacked in the back of the van?” asked Paul St. Pierre at the time of the investigation.

Court documents show three cadavers from Alpha Funeral Services were supposed to be sent to the Indiana University school of medicine as teaching tools — but when they went missing,.

“Edwards finally ordered Eckert to ‘Get this handled and taken care of.’”

It’s a statement Eckert understood “as an order to gather three separate containers of random remains, and to misrepresent or fake the identities of these remains.”